Outdoor Fiber Optic Lighting Projects

The Garden of Light

The Garden of Light was part of the UK arts festival, Bournemouth Arts by the Sea. This annual celebration of film, dance, performance, theatre and literature introduced the Garden of Light Festival as a major new event to boost the town’s winter tourism.

Award-winning local lighting design agency, Michael Grubb Studio, were asked to design a series of light houses for the town's beach front and lower garden area. These Light Pods were structured like traditional beach huts, and scattered along the paths, providing an excitingly immersive experience for visitors. Each hut had an individual sensory theme and showcased the use of lighting to sculpt and define a space.

UFO was delighted to be asked to supply the fiber optic lighting for the Optical World pod. The concept was an interactive sensory environment giving the illusion of colored clouds. This was achieved by suspending 700 strands of UFO sideglow fiber from the ceiling of the pod.

The fiber optic strands had different lengths, and created cloud-like bursts of light on the pod walls when moved. Visitors could touch them and enjoy a highly immersive and exciting sensory experience. The fiber was powered by two customized metal halide illuminators.

Since the fiber optic tails don't emit heat, it was completely safe for visitors to stand among the strands and move them to create beautiful patterns on the walls. The Optical World light pod was a great hit with visitors of all ages.